14-year-old boy who traveled to Miami to have a 10-pound tumor removed from his face, has died

The 14-year-old boy with a giant tumor on his face, who traveled from
Cuba to Miami to have it removed (read here), has died.

Emanuel Zayas was diagnosed with polyostotic fibrous dysplasia, which
reportedly replaces bones with fibrous tissue. At age 11, what physicians
believed to be a pimple, turned out to be an ossifying fibroma- which has since
grown into a 10-pound tumor.

According to reports, the tumor began to affect Zayas’ breathing, as
well as the bone structure of his face. He lived with the illness for years and
in September 2017, a Miami specialist offered to assist in the removal of the
large tumor after learning of the young boy’s story.

Cuban doctors had refused to perform the risky surgery on the boy. But
hope came in the form of the Miami specialist, who works at UHealth-University
of Miami Health System. He offered his assistance and the boy's family flew out
to Miami for the surgery.

Unfortunately, Zayas died in the wake of the 12-hour procedure.

"I am saddened by the fact that we are losing him and that the
physiological stress of the surgery was apparently too much for his compromised
anatomy," the chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery for the University
of Miami Health System said in a statement to the Herald. "Our hopes of
saving his life, and with that allowing him a better quality of life, were not
realized."

"Our condolences and prayers for Emanuel's family and the loss of
a very brave young man," Marx said, according to NBC 6. "Another
angel has arrived in heaven."

14-year-old boy who traveled to Miami to have a 10-pound tumor removed from his face, has died
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on
January 23, 2018
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